The swallowing muscles are prone to decreased strength and function as part of the natural aging process which can lead to difficulty swallowing, malnutrition, and frailty. Exercise and nutrition are powerful stimulators of muscular change. The proposed research will investigate the effectiveness of a 12-week proactive regimen of swallowing exercises (with or without daily protein supplement drinks) to improve the composition, force, and physiology of the swallowing muscles and explore the relationship to overall health and physical function in 80 community-dwelling older adults. Each participant will serve as their own control for 12 weeks before being randomized to complete swallowing exercises alone or swallowing exercises with protein drinks.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2024

open study

Tobacco use disorder is a chronic, relapsing health condition that necessitates a chronic care approach. However, traditional smoking cessation treatment programs allocate nearly all their resources only to those smokers who are willing to set a quit date. This is problematic because few smokers are ready to set a quit date at any given time, and a smoker's stated intention to quit can change rapidly. One novel potential treatment strategy is to foster practice quitting (PQ), defined as attempting to not smoke for a few hours or days, without pressure or expectation to permanently quit. Although a growing body of evidence supports the role of practice quitting in fostering permanent quit attempts and cessation, there is a significant knowledge gap regarding which treatment strategies should be used to engage smokers in practice quitting. The proposed study will test the role of PQ counseling vs. Motivational Interviewing (MI) counseling, and NRT sampling (four-week supply of nicotine lozenges and patches) vs. none.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2023

open study

Cognitive decline in dementia is considered irreversible, however episodes of paradoxical lucidity (PL) in severe dementia suggest other mechanisms may be in play. Beyond anecdotal reports of transient PL events occurring in patients predominantly in late-stage dementia and typically lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, little is known about PL. The study team proposes to develop and conduct a mixed methods prospective study of PL during end stage advanced dementia, creating a definition and measurement scale for PL in advanced dementia, and identifying the potential electro cortical biomarkers of PL in advanced dementia. This study will be divided in two phases: Phase I and Phase II. During Phase I, the study team will collect sufficient and necessary data through an online survey and focus groups as well as assess the safety and feasibility of using symptom diaries (also known as daily trackers or journals) and real-time video EEG monitoring (vEEG). After preliminary review of the study procedures, the PI will decide whether to move onto the Phase II. The second phase will aim to expand the study population and refine study methods as well as create a definition and measurement scale for PL in advances dementia.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jun 2022

open study

The UAB Institute for Arts In Medicine (AIM) is currently implementing an expressive emotional writing pilot project for adults with paralysis caused by neurological conditions such as traumatic head or spinal cord injury.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Sep 2020

open study

There is evidence that early and aggressive treatment with antiretroviral drugs can prevent the loss of immune cell function that accompanies HIV infection. This study will use leukapheresis (drawing blood, separating out the white cells and returning the blood to the patient) to obtain blood cells from HIV-infected patients in either the acute or chronic stage of infection who are being treated with early highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Leukapheresis is necessary to obtain enough cells to delineate the response of B cells to CD4+ T cell help, the CD8 factors associated with suppression of viral replication and normalization of immune function, and natural killer function relative to HIV disease. Study participants will be adult (older than 18 years) HIV primary or acutely affected patients (those with a history of exposure to HIV but not yet showing chronic symptoms of HIV disease) and HIV chronically infected patients (those infected with HIV for longer than 12 months or showing other symptoms of HIV disease) who are not receiving HAART at the beginning of the study. The study seeks to enroll 30 primary and 30 chronic patients. Pregnant women will not be enrolled in the study; women who become pregnant will be dropped from the study. Leukapheresis will be performed on each patient before HAART therapy begins and then three times a year. Each session will take between 1 and 3 hours. This longitudinal study will enable researchers to examine the function of certain B cells, natural killer cells, and CD8+ T cells in people who do not have chronic HIV disease and in those who do have the disease and are treated with HAART. ...

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jul 2002

open study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of using wearable digital health technology for continuous monitoring of physiological, sleep, and physical activity data in adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. This research aims to develop objective digital endpoints of the pain experience to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment outcomes.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Feb 2025

open study

This project will determine the clinical utility of non-surgical spine decompression for chronic low back pain (LBP). LBP is one of the highest incidence medical conditions that contributes to disability, decreased activities of daily living, decreased quality of life, and inability to work. LBP affects ≈70-85% of people during their lifetime, with ≈20% becoming chronic by age 20-59 years. Many current LBP therapeutics have detrimental long-term effects, undesired side effects, are invasive procedures with low success rates, and do not fare better than conservative care. Further, many chronic musculoskeletal pain patients do not respond to surgery, and many develop dependence on opioids. This project will implement a small-scale double-blinded, randomized proof-of-concept clinical trial to gather biomechanical and MRI data that will objectively determine the effectiveness of non-surgical spinal decompression (NSSD) over a 12-week longitudinal timeframe. The potential to provide a non-invasive alternative to chronic LBP via NSSD is innovative and addresses the pressing need for safer, more effective pain management options with fewer negative sequelae. NSSD has the potential to greatly improve lives, offering a new paradigm for chronic pain management.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2025

open study

Early Age-Related Hearing Loss Investigation (EARHLI) is a single site study that will randomize late middle age adults to either a hearing intervention (including hearing aids) or a health education intervention. Participants will be followed for 1 year. This study will provide information on reducing cognitive decline in those at risk for Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2024

open study

The goal of this study is to establish the efficacy of an intervention of dietary weight loss, exercise, and weight-loss maintenance for knee Osteoarthritis (OA) prevention in adult females aged ≥ 50 years with obesity and no or infrequent knee pain. The primary aim is to compare the effects of a dietary weight loss, exercise, and weight-loss maintenance to an attention control group in preventing the development of structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) knee OA. Secondary aims will determine the intervention effects on pain, mobility, health-related quality of life, knee joint compressive forces, inflammatory measures, weight loss, exercise self-efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of this intervention.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2024

open study

Demonstrate the feasibility of conducting an eight-week, (45 min/week), theory driven, virtually-delivered, tailored music-based relaxation (TiMBRe) intervention to decrease anxiety in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors with clinically-relevant anxiety.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2025

open study

This is an open label, multicenter, phase 1/2 study to assess the safety/tolerability and preliminary clinical activity of STAR0602 as a single agent administered intravenously in participants with advanced solid tumors that are antigen-rich.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2023

open study

Newly released guidelines recommend increased physical activity (PA) and reduced sedentary behaviors (SB) to improve glycemia and prevent the onset and progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Typically, 30-60 min bouts of PA are advocated per day. Although this approach increases PA, it does not decrease the length of the sedentary periods through the day. This is important because recent epidemiological data suggest that frequently interrupting sedentary time improves glucose control even in people who achieve the recommended levels of PA. Preliminary experimental data suggest that breaking up prolonged sedentary time by performing multiple short bouts (5 min) of PA throughout the day, may improve glycemia more than performing a single continuous bout of PA, and thereby potentially be a novel strategy to prevent T2D. The improvement in glycemia was observed even when the total amount of PA and total energy expenditure were matched, suggesting that how and when PA is performed over the day may matter more than how much PA is done. However, important gaps in knowledge remain including: (1) whether similar benefits on glucose control would be observed in adults with prediabetes, a clinically relevant population that is at high risk of developing T2D; (2) whether these effects are sustained or diluted over time, and (3) what are the mechanistic underpinnings. To address these gaps, the investigators propose to measure the acute and chronic effects of PA breaks on glucose control and the underlying mechanisms in individuals at risk of developing T2D. Sedentary men and women with prediabetes (n=66, 50% F) will be randomized to either an intervention designed to interrupt SB with 5-min bouts of brisk walking performed hourly for 9 hours/day, 5 days/week (BREAK) or a control condition consisting of 45-min of brisk walking performed as a single daily continuous bout, 5 days/week (ONE). The two 3-months interventions will be matched for total active time.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2021

open study

The goal of this project evaluate the efficacy of NiteCAPP in improving insomnia in a rural dementia caregiver sample (n of 100 caregiver and PWD dyads). We will measure both the short term (post-treatment) and long term (6 and 12 months) effects of the intervention on CG sleep, arousal, inflammation, health, mood, burden and cognitive function, and PWD sleep.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2022

open study

The Cocooned Moms Study is a pre- and post-design study primarily aimed at reducing stress, depressive symptoms, and blood pressure among expectant Black women by providing them with free access to the InovCares mobile app. InovCares is a culturally-sensitive telehealth platform designed for community-based care coordination in maternal care. It also offers a culturally tailored maternal mental health program, which provides access to resources addressing social determinants of health, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy, and compassion-focused therapy (CFT), along with peer-to-peer support and gamification. The study will evaluate the impact of these interventions on reported stress levels, depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and blood pressure (BP) among Black pregnant women.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2025

open study

This research study is investigating whether people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience more changes to swallowing than their healthy age-matched peers. The prevalence of swallowing impairments in moderate-severe AD is high (85-93%), yet little is known about how swallow function evolves throughout the disease course in people with AD. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate swallowing function in adults with and without Alzheimer's disease. The investigator will also be involving the primary caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's that are enrolled in the study to better understand the impact of swallowing impairments on the primary caregivers of those with Alzheimer's Disease. Healthy adults and individuals with Alzheimer's disease will: - undergo tests of cough and swallow function - undergo tests of grip and tongue strength - complete questionnaires Caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease will also complete questionnaires.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Apr 2025

open study

Clinical practice guidelines for smoking cessation emphasize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help patients develop coping strategies for urges. Mindfulness or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offer a different approach, which teaches smokers psychological flexibility through accepting negative experiences. While there is evidence for the efficacy of both CBT and Mindfulness/ACT smoking cessation interventions, it is unclear if these approaches are efficacious when implemented in real-time and with young adults. The overall goal of this proposal is to evaluate the efficacy of CBT and Mindfulness/ACT messages for young adults targeted at specific high-risk situations for smoking.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2024

open study

Crisis Response Planning is an efficacious, one-session intervention that increases positive affect, decreases negative affect and psychiatric hospitalizations, and reduces suicide attempts by 76% among Servicemembers. Crisis Response Planning is hypothesized to reduce suicidality by identifying a variety of personalized strategies that are designed to strengthen and/or promote emotion regulation processes.Research in nonmilitary samples suggests the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies varies across situations. The applicability of these findings to suicidality among Servicemembers is unknown. Improved understanding of what strategies work under which circumstances and for whom will significantly advance our ability to prevent suicide among Servicemembers. Hypotheses include: 1. Use of self-management strategies, thinking about reasons for living, and seeking social support at time t will be associated with significant reductions in suicidal ideation at time t+1. 2. Use of distraction, reappraisal, and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies at time t will be associated with significant reductions in suicidal ideation at time t+1. 3. Affect intensity and social context will significantly moderate the time-lagged effects of Crisis Response Planning and emotion regulation strategy use on suicidal ideation. 4. Distinct profiles of demographic (e.g., gender, age), historical (e.g., prior suicide attempts), and psychological characteristics (e.g., emotion dysregulation, symptom severity) will predict who experiences a decrease in suicidal ideation following the use of Crisis Response Planning and emotion regulation strategies. 5. (Exploratory): Individuals who utilize their Crisis Response Planning more frequently and perceive Crisis Response Planning as more effective will be more likely to engage in mental health treatment at follow-up.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2022

open study

The purpose of this study is to design and test a decision-making program that is tailored to support adult daughters making healthcare decisions for their parents who are living with memory loss to improve the quality of life of African American families. There are two phases of this research study. The first phase will collect information by surveys and/or interviews. The surveys and interviews will ask questions about demographics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity), culture, health, family dynamics, caregiving, and healthcare experiences. The surveys will be completed by all eligible adult daughters and parents with memory loss in pairs. The interviews will be completed by a smaller number of pairs and by all former adult daughter caregivers. The general scope of topics is caregiving experiences, cultural identity, healthcare decisions for persons living with Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias, health, and well-being. The research team will identify and examine key factors that will lead to designing and testing the feasibility of a culturally tailored prototype intervention for African American dementia dyads/families of persons living with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2022

open study

The aim of this trial is to evaluate whether testosterone replacement results in greater improvement in pain perception, pain tolerance, sexual function, fatigue, and quality of life when compared with placebo in men with chronic spinal pain treated with opioids who have opioid-induced hypogonadism (low testosterone).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2022

open study

Hearing aids can improve hearing, communication, and overall quality of life for people with hearing loss. However, not many people use hearing aids. A common reason is that hearing aids are expensive and hard to get. The traditional way to get hearing aids involves multiple visits to licensed audiologists for identifying hearing loss, customizing the aids, and ongoing maintenance. This traditional method is called the AUD pathway. Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids offer a different approach. They aim to make hearing aids more affordable and accessible, encouraging earlier use. In the OTC pathway, users diagnose their own hearing loss and fit and program the hearing aids themselves. Little is known about long-term effects of OTC hearing aids on users. This study aims to compare the experiences of people who choose the OTC pathway with those who choose the AUD pathway. It takes place in two locations: Iowa City, IA, and Nashville, TN. Participants, who have mild-to-moderate hearing loss, choose their preferred pathway and are followed for 12 months. In the OTC pathway, participants buy their hearing aids directly from OTC companies or retailers. In the AUD pathway, prescription hearing aids and fitting services are provided by audiology clinics at the University of Iowa and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Participants are contacted 1, 6, and 12 months after starting to use their hearing aids. Researchers measure their satisfaction about hearing aids and other outcomes. If participants stop using their hearing aids, researchers assess their engagement with post-amplification hearing care. The results from both pathways are then compared.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2025

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether an adaptation of an evidence-based, couple-based preventive intervention at the transition to parenthood improves reduces obesity risk among infants and parents in military families via improved interparental support and coordination around health lifestyle behaviors and parenting. The main question it aims to answer is whether an adapted, innovative family-focused approach to obesity prevention can reduce rapid infant weight gain, new mothers' postpartum weight retention, and fathers' weight status. Participants randomized to the Healthy Family Foundations (HFF) intervention condition will participate in 10 online group classes (5 prenatal and 5 postnatal). Participants randomized to the control condition will receive standard of care and opportunities for education at their site. Researchers will compare the Healthy Family Foundations (HFF) intervention group with a Standard of Care control group to see if there are differences in weight, coparenting support, parent mental health and parent health behaviors.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2023

open study

The purpose of this study is to examine whether microaggressions relate to multimodal facets of smoking behavior, subjective withdrawal, and urge/craving. Additionally, the second aim is to examine whether smoking deprivation moderates the relation between microaggressions and multiple facets of smoking behavior, subjective withdrawal, and urge/craving.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2022

open study

This clinical trial studies the use of a quality of life intervention called Y-AMBIENT to help young African American with stage I-III breast cancer manage daily life. Y-AMBIENT is a four-month, telephone-based intervention that includes three themed education sessions with three follow-up sessions, written materials, and videos. The Y-AMBIENT intervention may improve quality of life and other health-related outcomes in young African American breast cancer survivors.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2022

open study

The purpose of this multi-site research study is to determine if Etanercept, compared to a placebo, significantly reduces the severity of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) associated with history of blast and/or noise exposure or associated with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or concussion. Individuals who qualify will be randomized into one of two groups: The group receiving the medication Etanercept or the group receiving a saline solution placebo.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2022

open study

Background: - Like other complex diseases, autoimmune diseases are the result of numerous causes, including genetic and environmental factors. Some researchers believe that people who are susceptible to autoimmune disorders develop them when the body reacts to environmental or other factors by creating white blood cells that attack the body s own tissues, which then progresses to autoimmune diseases. These immune-triggered disorders can overlap with one another to some extent, but most autoimmune diseases have certain distinct triggers. - The autoimmune disorder myositis weakens the muscles and may cause other health problems. Environmental exposures associated with myositis include ultraviolet radiation, stressful life events and muscle overexertion, collagen implants, infections such as retroviruses and streptococci bacteria, and certain drugs and chemicals. Some individuals with myositis also produce proteins in the blood called autoantibodies that react with certain parts of the person s own cells, called synthetases, which are involved in making new proteins. A syndrome called the anti-synthetase syndrome, which includes myositis and lung disease, is associated with having the anti-synthetase autoantibodies. Researchers are interested in studying differences in environmental exposures in individuals with myositis. This study is being conducted to determine if persons with the anti-synthetase syndrome have had different environmental exposures before disease onset compared with other patients with myositis who do not have this syndrome and also compared with healthy volunteers. Objectives: - To determine whether selected infectious and noninfectious environmental exposures are more common in individuals who have myositis with the anti-synthetase syndrome, compared with healthy volunteers. Eligibility: - Individuals who have been diagnosed with myositis (with or without anti-synthetase autoantibodies), and healthy volunteers without autoimmune disorders. Design: - Participants will be screened with a full medical history and physical examination, and will provide blood, urine and house dust samples. - Participants will complete questionnaires about their medical history and the types of exposures they have had at work, at home, and elsewhere. Participants who have myositis will also be asked about certain infections, heavy exercise or physical exertion, sun exposure, tobacco and alcohol use, and stressful events prior to being diagnosed with the disease. Healthy volunteers will be asked about the same exposures before the date of diagnosis of disease of the myositis subject to which they have been matched. - Participants will receive a kit that contains instructions and a filter to be put onto their vacuum cleaner to collect house dust in the bedroom. This dust will be kept for possible future analyses of infectious or toxic agents based on the other results from the study. - Individuals with myositis will have other tests as clinically indicated, including lung function tests and imaging studies....

Type: Observational

Start Date: Feb 2011

open study